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How you live, work & play with your Mac, iPhone, iPad & iPodTue, 26 Sep 2017 02:58:22 +0000http://backend.userland.com/rss092enmacOS High Sierra is hereApple has announced macOS High Sierra is now available as a free update. macOS High Sierra features a new file system and support for High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) for stunning 4K video at lower file sizes. Metal 2 powers virtual reality content creation and faster performance. The Core ML developer framework makes it easy to create apps with powerful machine learning that predict, learn and become more intelligent. There are also refinements to the apps including Photos and Safari. New features in macOS High Sierra: Apple File System (APFS) APFS is a new, advanced storage architecture providing an extensible foundation...

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Saving bandwidth now that iTunes doesn’t manage appsFollowing on from the editorial I posted to subscribers of the Macworld Australia weekly email newsletter, I received a couple of messages pointing out a new setting that had been added to System Preferences on the Mac. The new setting, found by going into System Preferences and opening the Sharing applet is something called ‘Content Caching’. This setting will allow a machine on the network, designated as a parent, to reduce the amount of bandwidth you use by suing some of your Mac’s storage to hold iCloud content that is used by multiple machines: When you download cacheable content from...

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How to make Apple people angryThis editorial was first published in our weekly newsletter. Subscribe to get Mac and Apple news delivered to your inbox each week. I made a discovery this week. People really care when Apple changes its software. I’ve seen various complaints in the past, particularly a few years ago when Apple decided to harmonise the features in the OS X (now macOS) versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote with those in its iOS counterparts. That effort resulted in numerous features being removed from the Mac versions of the software until they were reinstated, eventually. But over the last week, Apple has taken the...

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Hands on with iRig Pro I/OIn recent years I have been using the iRig Pro as an interface between my guitar and my iPad where I have a number of guitar modelling apps. Today I’m trying out its successor, the iRig Pro I/O. At 40 x 120 x 30 it still qualifies as pocket size but is considerably larger than its predecessor. Beautifully designed in rugged but soft-to-touch black plastic, the unit sits very easily in my hand. There’s even a Velcro strip so I can strap it to my mic stand. The input accepts 1/4 inch XLR guitar mic or line and output is...

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Apple Watch Series 3 reviews: The good, the bad and the uglyIt turns out the third time isn’t the charm for Apple Watch. Early reviews for the Series 3 model with cellular have landed and let’s just say there are some concerns. Most of the problems result from LTE connectivity issues, the major new feature on Apple Watch. While the woes weren’t universal, enough reviewers had issues that Apple is investigating a fix that will be included in a future software update. In a statement to the Verge, one of the outlets that experienced severe issues, Apple says it has pinpointed an issue where Apple Watch Series 3 joins unauthenticated Wi-Fi networks...

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iOS 11: How to install the latest version of the iPhone and iPad operating systemiOS 11 is now available, and you probably want to upgrade. The upgrade process will take several minutes, and you should probably use a Wi-Fi connection so you don’t eat up your data allocation with your service provider. And before you upgrade, it’s important to back up your device. If you sync with a Mac, you can back up in iTunes. You can also back up to iCloud. There are two ways to install iOS 11. The first allows you to do it directly on your iPhone or iPad. The second lets you do it by connecting your device to your Mac. How to...

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Three small announcements that hint at Apple’s big futureApple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is generally the company’s blueprint for at least the next year, as it shows off improvements to its core platforms. But for the last six years, the company’s fall event has boasted a more tangible realisation of that future in the form of a new iPhone. This year, Apple’s iPhone X made that future overt, with Apple indicating that it was once again skating to where the puck will be. But though that might be the most obvious indication of Apple’s future designs, there were a handful of smaller announcements sprinkled in the keynote that also indicated...

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Face ID on the iPhone X: Everything you need to know about Apple’s facial recognitionThe upcoming iPhone X will use Face ID – technology that unlocks your iPhone X by using infrared and visible light scans to uniquely identify your face. The company says it will work in a variety of conditions and is extremely secure, although no one outside of Apple has yet been able to confirm how well it works. This brings up a lot of questions about Face ID. We’ll work to get answers to you as you ponder whether you want to buy an iPhone X when it starts shipping on 3 November. What is Face ID? Face ID a form of biometric...

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Synology DiskStation DS218+Synology recently released its new DiskStation the DS218+, the perfect 2-bay all-round storage solution, designed for home users or small businesses pursuing a compact and reliable shared storage solution. This product features a dual-core processor with AES-NI encryption acceleration and a transcoding engine, providing high-speed file transfers and supporting real-time 4K transcoding. For the home that loves keeping you entertained, the DS218+ supports transcoding of up to two concurrent H.264/H.265 4K video streaming, featuring support for the latest multimedia file. Users are now able to easily organise and sort through their personal digital video library as well as being able...

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iTunes 12.7: How to cope with the abrupt changesiTunes 12.7 appeared Tuesday following Apple’s slate of product announcements, and its version number hides how much that’s disappeared and changed in this release. The iOS App Store is wiped out, as are ringtones. iTunes U and Internet Radio have moved locations. And iTunes for Windows lost its ability to manage books in iOS. While many people have argued iTunes’ feature creep over the years had made it an increasingly odd sack of unrelated items, this shift doesn’t come with commensurate improvements or additions elsewhere in macOS, and may cause some difficulties for people with modest internet throughput or low bandwidth caps, which can affect...

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JAMF to support new Apple operating systems from day oneJAMF has announced that its software for managing Apple devices, including Jamf Pro and Jamf Now, will support macOS High Sierra, iOS 11 and tvOS 11, over the coming days. In addition to compatibility for all of Apple’s fall operating systems, Jamf Pro 9.101 also includes new features for the latest payloads, restrictions and MDM commands. When customers upgrade to the latest Apple operating systems, IT administrators can be confident their mobile device management (MDM) workflows will be uninterrupted. In addition, zero-day compatibility, including beta support, as well as new feature support enables businesses to: Adequately test Apple releases prior to general availability...

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Apple TV 4K adds HDR and faster performanceThe Apple TV, Apple’s flagship streaming media box, just got a major upgrade – which shouldn’t be a surprise, considering Apple’s interest in original programming and being a cord-cutting leader. The new Apple TV 4K adds support for 4K video (naturally) as well as HDR, or High Dynamic Range, making for a significant upgrade to a product Apple once called a “hobby”. The 4K resolution offers four times the pixels of the current 1080p HD model, while HDR provides a greater range of richer colours with supported titles and TV sets. The new Apple TV 4K costs AUD$249 inc. GST for 32GB or...

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iTunes 12.7 for Mac removes iOS app storeiTunes 12.7 for Mac was released on Tuesday with a major change in the app. Apple has redesigned iTunes so that it focuses on sales of music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks and podcasts. It no longer has an App Store for buying apps for your iPhone or iPad. This means that in order to buy an iOS app, you must do it on the iOS device itself. You no longer can buy an iOS app within iTunes, and then load the app to your device when you perform a sync. Apple announced last month that iTunes U content can now be found...

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iPhone 8 and 8 Plus: Wireless charging, Portrait Lighting and five more features you’ll wantIf the super-spendy iPhone X is more than you want to pay for a phone, Apple is also offering updates to the smaller iPhones, called the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. They still have the Home button and body bezels, they still use Touch ID instead of Face ID, and the LCD screen sizes are the same that you’re used to. But don’t call them retro. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus will be available in space grey, silver and an all-new gold finish in increased 64GB and 256GB capacity models starting at Recommended Retail Price AUD$1079 inc. GST for iPhone 8...

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19 September is the release date for Apple’s iPhone and iPad iOS 11iOS 11 is the next generation of Apple’s operating system for iPhones and iPads. Apple CEO Tim Cook and friends gave us a full overview of iOS 11 during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote back in June, and now we’re days away from its official launch. New features include sweeping new upgrades to Siri, a redesigned Control Centre and App Store, and a brand-new Apple Pay feature that lets you send or receive money to your contacts via iMessage. In addition, developers can now create apps that tap into your iOS device’s potential to create augmented reality experiences via the new ARKit. Plus, there...

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macOS High Sierra: New Mac operating system to be released on 25 SeptemberThe next version of Apple’s operating system for the Mac is called macOS High Sierra. While the OS is mostly about software refinements, it also lays the foundation for future innovations in the worlds of VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality). You can learn more by taking a look at our favourite High Sierra features listed below. That’s followed by an FAQ, where you can get details on High Sierra’s release date, system requirements, installation instructions and more. A new file system Ever since System 8, the Mac has used the HFS+ file system to keep our documents and directories running smoothly, but at...

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iPhone X: Hands-on and first impressions with Apple’s new iPhoneThe iPhone X is real, though it won’t be arriving in customers’ hands until November. I got to use one for a few minutes Tuesday at the Steve Jobs Theater after Apple wrapped up its latest media event. My first impression is that, in many ways, this is the iPhone that Apple has always wanted to build – one where the front face is almost entirely covered by a screen. And what a screen – a bright, colourful OLED display that Apple claims is the best by far that it’s ever put on an iPhone. iPhone X: No Home button, no problem...

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The new iPhone is a sign Apple needs a big iOS rethinkThis editorial was first published in our weekly newsletter. Subscribe to get Mac and Apple news delivered to your inbox each week. I was chatting to my kids the other day about how movies rarely live up to pre-release hype (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – I’m looking at you) and it struck me that the hype around the iPhone 8 (or iPhone X if some rumours are to be believed) are getting over the top. Wireless charging, better screens, faster processors, facial recognition, augmented reality… the hype around these and features is getting a little excessive. Apple makes great products. If...

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iPhone X: Rumoured specs and featuresThe iPhone 8 may not be what you expect it to be. In two days, we may all be talking about iPhone X, the presumptive chart-topping handset in Apple’s mobile line-up. And thanks to firmware leaks, the world may even be privy to iPhone X specs and features. Indeed, it’s T-minus 1 day until the Apple event, and it’s starting to look like there are no surprises left. After the leak of the HomePod firmware back in August, 9to5Mac has now gotten its hands on iOS 11 GM, better known as the final build before the system is released to the public. And there’s...

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What’s in the new iPhone? Just look at iOS 10 and iOS 11 to find outApple’s a company with a long-term product vision. Next week we’ll see the 2017 iPhones unveiled at the Steve Jobs Theater, but people inside Apple are already working hard on the 2018 model… and probably on the new features that will populate the 2019 and 2020 versions, too. While the most interesting things to come out of any Apple event are the new product announcements, one of my favorite things about any Apple announcement is how it makes some of Apple’s previous decisions more understandable in hindsight. As outside observers who can’t peer into Apple’s inner workings, we don’t always...